Althena Book 2

74. Coffino

I jump out of bed naked and run into the bathroom. It sounds like the police are beating down the door.

Drogon throws on pants and opens it.

"TIME TO GO."

"CHRIS." I wrap a towel around me and run out.

"WE'RE GOING TO CENTRAL. DON'T BE NAKED."

I run back into the bathroom and jump in the shower. Drogon climbs in with me and washes my hair. I'm at the breakfast table 15 minutes later. I'm shoving food in my mouth and Mike is combing my hair.

Chris sits at the end. "I made all our normal appointments."

Drogon rubs his face and plops down. "Why?"

"There is a sexy man here who likes me. I will be making a good impression."

"Who is the man?"

I jump up and point at Chris. "NO. It's a secret. He hasn't told yet."

Chris rolls his eyes.

Drogon puts an eyebrow up at Mike.

Mike nods. "Akmae likes boys."

Drogon stares at him. "That's a secret?"

"I guess so. He hasn't told anyone yet. That makes it a secret."

"I didn't know it was a secret."

Conner cracks up laughing. "He's terrible at keeping it a secret. He didn't bat an eyelash when her and Lila came out in bikinis. But he knew exactly where the half-naked guy getting out of the pool was."

I laugh and shake my head. "The point is, he hasn't told anyone yet, so, it's technically a secret."

Drogon rolls his eyes. "Fine. Also, her dad's girlfriend came forward. Someone is going to have to join the clean-up crew on Monday morning. I can't do it."

Conner looks around. "Did we kill her?"

"No." I throw my fork down. "She talked to me and Monte yesterday. He's going over Monday morning. My dad left guns, a laptop, an entire office, a car, and f**k only knows what else at their house. Monte is sorting it out. She doesn't want anything. She just has no idea what to do with stuff."

"Their house?" His eyebrows are stuck up.

"Yes. They've been together for years. She was 15 when they got together. The house is in her name."

"Damn."

Mike nods. "I'll go with him. We'll sort it out."

"Oh and then..." I cross my legs. "The girlfriend and Mary came face to face. Mary recognized her scent and stopped moving for a second. But Clayton was coming so she pulled it together. She's known the whole time. She said, Darkburn deserved a good queen and nobody else would have stayed with my father."

"I bet that was tense."

I crack up laughing. "Monte asked her if he was going to have to be the cleanup crew for her too. She just walked away. I think he pissed her off."

Drogon nods. "Probably."

Chris puts his hand up. "WHAT THE f**k?"

"I'll fill you in later and everything is a secret."

"Fine. Let's go before we're late."

I talk the entire helicopter ride, and he's caught up by the time we're in central. He doesn't know anything about Edwardo, but I don't want to bring him into it. He knows about the drugs and women on the boat and the new girlfriend.

"I knew losing his soulmate had to f**k with him. I didn't realize he went crazy though."

"Yep." I hop out of the helicopter. "Where to first?"

"Safiri. Of course."

A few hours later, we look like a million dollars each. They did my hair and make-up. I have new jewelry and a short, tight dress. I haven't done that in so long. Chris did more than I did and he has a new fitted suit. We grab sunglasses last and head off to the casino.

Drogon wraps his arm around me when we walk in. "You are beautiful, baby."

"Thank you. I didn't know you would all be here."

"We're keeping an eye on everything."

Monte motions for me. "I need her. We're going to do the drawing for the boat now."

Drogon nods and hands me off. "I'll be here somewhere, baby."

"I'll find you when we're done."

Chris and I follow Monte to his office. "We're going to do the drawing here a few times before we take it upstairs."

Chris nods. "What do we do?"

"Stand beside the computer and look pretty."

"Well, that's easy." Chris straightens his jacket.

"Very good. This is your computer. One of you on each side of it. Talk into the microphones. Remember, you're giving away a truck and boat. You're about to make someone very happy. Be excited. Then you're going to push this button. Out pops a number. I look it up on my laptop and announce the winner."

"Good deal. Let's practice."

Chris puts the mic to his face. "IT'S THE TIME YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR. THE WINNER OF A BRAND-NEW BOAT IS ABOUT TO BE DRAWN."

I look at Monte. "Maybe I should just let him do it."

He smirks. "Your turn."

"I don't know how to follow that."

"Explain the numbers. There is a number on each ticket that was purchased. They should have it in their email. You're going to draw 1 number out of all that were sold. Then push the button."

I push the button. Then run over and watch his screen. I see some of the numbers are blacked out. He is smart.

I look at my screen. "Number 1,432, you have won the grand prize."

Monte nods and clicks it. It's some lady's name and info. "Perfect. Now we're going to do it upstairs."

He sets everything up beside the truck.

Chris gets the crowd going. "It's the time you've all been waiting for. The winner of the boat is about to be drawn. Get your ticket numbers ready."

I trust Monte, but I am still nervous. Edwardo bought a lot of tickets. I can only hope this works. I don't know what I'll do if he wins.

Chris keeps going and I watch Monte.

"You're fine. Everything is perfect. Draw the winner, woman."

I take a deep breath and put the microphone to my face. "Every ticket that was purchased, whether it was online or a paper ticket, was numbered. We're going to pull the winning number now. So, get your tickets ready." I click the button. "The winning number is... 9,412. If you have that number, you are the winner."

Monte stands beside me and looks at the camera. "Ms. Annette from the Riverside District. We're going to be contacting you within the hour. We need some additional information before we can have your vehicles delivered. Congratulations on having the winning ticket."

Chris pulls my arm, and we go over to Coffino.

"I need..."

I grab his arm and pull him to a booth. "Wait."

"Why am I waiting?"

"She doesn't understand free coffee for us. Someone else will be here at 11."

Mike comes in and looks at her. Then he sits with us and checks his watch. "4 minutes."

Chris cracks up laughing. Then Drogon and Conner sit with us.

Finally, Akmae comes in. He's got the T-shirt on. We wait for the girl to leave before we rush to the counter.

"I am not waiting anymore." Chris goes behind the counter and makes his coffee. Then he gets Mike and Conner's coffee. "I don't know what the rest of you people want."

"Mocha magic for me."

Chris sips his coffee. "We should make some cinnamon rolls."

"Make my coffee, Chris."

"Make your own damn coffee, Drogon."

"Make cinnamon rolls." Conner pushes me behind the counter with them.

"I WANT..."

Akmae puts coffee in my hand. "There you go."

I sip it and it's perfect. "We'll make cinnamon rolls. Anyone else want anything?"

Clayton takes a cup from Akmae. "Chocolate muffins."

"Deal."

Cyrus comes in. "What the hell, people? Were you waiting for the girl to leave?"

Chris laughs. "Yes. That's exactly what happened."

"Move her somewhere else already. You cannot do this every time she leaves. Give me the Joker. Go on, people. Disperse."

Chris pulls me to the back. "We need aprons."

I order the ones where we look like sexy people in bikinis. The shop needs the coolers and stuff filled. "I think we're in for a day of cooking."

"Yea, I noticed that. All you have is coffee. But the coffee is good. So, it works."

"Coffee shop. We can make some bread for sandwiches and dough for... well, everything."

"I'll start the meat." He walks into the refrigerator and comes back. "No. I won't. You don't have any."

"Damn it. I'll put an order in. What do we need?"

"Everything."

"Son of a bitch."

He nods.

An hour later, we're finally cooking. And we look good in our bikini aprons. Chris cooks some bacon while I keep an eye on the cinnamon rolls and bread in the oven.

"I missed the smell of this place."

I pull the cinnamon rolls out. "Me too. Baking bread has the best smell ever."

Monte runs in. "Bacon and bread? You are killing me with the smells coming from here."

I put a little bite of the cinnamon roll in his mouth. "Still too hot for frosting."

His body relaxes. "Amazing."

Chris hands him a plate of bacon. "Go away and eat your bacon. We're talking."

He stares at the bacon for a second. "Fine. I'll be back."

"We know." Chris rolls his eyes as he leaves. "So, what's going on with you two?"

"I'm not supposed to kiss him anymore."

He cracks up laughing and starts more bacon. "We both know that's not gonna happen."

"I know right. He's so sexy."

"So, when do I get to meet this sexy guy?"

"He's at the counter, Chris. You already did."

"I needed coffee too much to realize that."

"Happens."

"I don't even think I looked at him."

I shrug my shoulders. "Take him a cinnamon roll and some bacon. You can get a good look that way."

"True. Watch the bacon."

I keep everything going and frost the cinnamon rolls. After about 10 minutes, I hear Chris yell, "SIT THE f**k DOWN, CONNER." Then he brings in Monte's bacon plate. "The assholes want cinnamon rolls." He grabs the pan and takes it out. A minute passes before he comes back.

"So, how did it go?"

"We were having a moment. Then the assholes started wanting food."

"Always happens like that."

He nods and packages the other pan of cinnamon rolls. I get some sandwiches packaged and take them out to the counter. Akmae is sitting there eating a cinnamon roll and drinking coffee with Conner. Half the pan of cinnamon rolls is on the counter. "Did you guys eat half the pan?"

"No. We're selling them like this."

Akmae smiles. "The smell is bringing people in."

"Yea, the smell of cinnamon rolls always brings Conner in too. That's how I got him to work for me."

He winks at me. "No, that was you in a bikini."

"Pfft." Akmae rolls his eyes. "You would follow her around in pajamas with her hair standing straight up."

He chuckles. "Yea, I've done that before too."

I give him a hug before I go to the backroom. He's so sweet.